Austerity and the profitability puzzle: government gives profits a helping hand
This is the third and final post in what has become a three-part series on the puzzle of high profitability and low investment in the Canadian economy. In the first…
Canada
Neil Young’s 4-city concerts to benefit First Nation’s tar sands fight
Neil Young’s 4-city Canadian concert tour to raise money to support the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation’s legal defense against tar sands developments. The post Neil Young’s 4-city concerts to benefit…
Spysplaining
The CSEC commish, entrusted to the task of ensuring CSEC doesn’t break the law during its spying on, err, for this country, is not coming out smelling like a rose.…
Practice CrimeStop: You Are the New Terrorist
Balloons are a threat to civil order. The police must protect themselves from you with riot gear. You are a bad person. You. You enemy of the state. You radical…
Under Canadian terrorism laws, Mandela would be considered a terrorist
by: Obert Madondo Its ironic, isn’t it? Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition, four provincial premiers, three former prime minister, two former governors general, MPs,…
You Can Vote, But You Can’t Travel in Canada
This situation is BS. A Manitoba MP is crying discrimination after two aboriginal women were not allowed to board a plane with her, even though they had tickets. Niki Ashton,…
IKEA: Swedish for Discrimination Against Workers
Values, discrimination, the Swedish way: all these ideas are in the mix as stakeholders of IKEA’s treatment of workers express how they feel about IKEA’s plan to break its union…
First Nations Get $0.3M for Solar Research #skpoli
The Conservative government generously gave First Nations in Saskatchewan enough grant money to build one impressively sized solar array that could power a half dozen homes. Ontario is going with…
A Canadian housing bubble? Evidence from capital inflows
Warning: A wonky, but thankfully short, post follows. Yesterday, the Naked Capitalism blog reposted some recent research by OECD economist Eduardo Olaberria that looks at the effect of capital inflows…
Oh Canada!
As a Canadian, I am more than embarrassed by my country’s environmental record over the last decade, I’m appalled and angry at the lack of leadership that has lead to…
Nelson Mandela: ‘An international emblem of dignity and forbearance’
Nelson Mandela, in about 1964. Nelson Mandela is the father of modern South Africa, but he belongs to all humanity now, and all of humanity seems ready to embrace him…
#ReformAct Problem — Caucus Initiating Leadership Reviews (#cdnpoli)
There’s one part of the Reform Act that I’m really stumbling over. Specifically the notion that 15% of a party’s caucus can initiate a caucus review of the party’s leadership.…
Why the Rich Want You to Hate Your Union
Greed is a powerful thing. It motivates the greedy to convince workers that they should hate any efforts to make their work better and reduce the level of abuse and…
David Suzuki: Canada’s environment needs constitutional protection
BC’s Great Bear Rainforest (photo: Ian McAllister/Pacific Wild) Canada is blessed with some of the last vestiges of pristine nature on Earth – unbroken forests, coastlines and prairies, thousands of…
Are We Good Allies to First Nations?
This is what solidarity looks like; make sure it’s authentic! Lots of us care about deepening relationships with and social/economic/political justice for first peoples. It’s hard to come in, though,…
The face of Israel we don’t see in Canadian mainstream media
In the light of Stephen Harper’s announcement of an upcoming visit to Israel, it might be worth taking a closer look at the country he will be visiting. Coverage of…
Omar sues
Justice has to date miserably failed Omar Khadr. It simply has not been a match for the vindictiveness of Washington and the callousness of Ottawa. Consequently his life continues to…
Canada-Australia climate axis—greatest threat to global security?
Prime Minister Harper once announced that the greatest threat to global security was terrorism. That was nonsense of course—every year, malaria kills approximately 660,000 people, mostly children, and AIDS 1,700,000…